NationStates Jolt Archive

Today I went to a very interesting conference. It was the Islamic Awareness Week at my local university, and my philosophy class got to go and listen to what the speaker had to say on "Social Justice and Islamic Perspectives".

Overall, this was a very interesting experience. However, I had some doubts about the contents of the discussion. First, the speaker, being Islamic, barely acknowledged the existence of athiests and spoke through the entire lecture as if we were all Muslims who believed that Allah was the one and only god. He also said that in Islam, like in Christianity, if you did not believe in their god, no matter how good you have been in your life, you would end up in hell.

Another thing that really bugged me was that when I asked him the difference between Islam and Muslim, he said that Islam was the highest state an Islamic person would reach, where he/she undoubtedly believed in god and followed everything the Qur'an tells them, whereas Muslims are people who "claim" to be Islam but are actually just putting up a front. I don't really know if this is the true difference, so does anybody here know the difference?

Finally, I really do believe that Islamic people and Middle Eastern people are treated unfairly by the West, and we have double standards for them, if not for every race. But the speaker mentioned that suicide bombers were just "Muslims who have been pushed over the edge", so he didn't really deny that there are people like that in his religion. So my question is, what's more important, personal rights or national security? Your thoughts?

The real difference is of a completely different nature. "Muslims" is "monotheist believers" word-by-word, and it can technically mean "Christians" - well, actually, it refers to people that believed in the law of Abraham without being wrong, but even before Muhammad. In the Quran, Jesus' apostles are named "Muslims". That is the real nuance.
In this case, it may just be a post-factum distinction: not wrong per se, but superfluous.

The reason people in the west treat them so badly is because they are misunderstood. And, to correct you, as a Catholic, we believe that if you are good enough in your life and do not believe in God, but rather follow Natural Law (don't kill, steal, ect.) that you can still go to heaven. (there is a purifying process known as purgatory)

Actually, one doesn't need to believe in Allah to get into Paradise. Hell is reserved for the truly evil. Not believing doesn't make a person evil.

I take great issue with that stance and it caused a recent rant of mine on this forums and is moving me to apostacy. I cannot, and will not, believe in a selfish deity.

Islam is the religion, and a
Muslim is a member of Islam

Actually, one doesn't need to believe in Allah to get into Paradise. Hell is reserved for the truly evil. Not believing doesn't make a person evil.

I take great issue with that stance and it caused a recent rant of mine on this forums and is moving me to apostacy. I cannot, and will not, believe in a selfish deity.
It's all about names. To me, Islam is just another label; a collective identifier. What other Muslims say or think does not need to affect your own thoughts and ideas unless you want them to.

It's up to you to choose your own philosophies and your own labels, but I think those are two separate notions. Decide which one you think Islam is and your course of action will follow on naturally.

Actually, one doesn't need to believe in Allah to get into Paradise. Hell is reserved for the truly evil. Not believing doesn't make a person evil.

I take great issue with that stance and it caused a recent rant of mine on this forums and is moving me to apostacy. I cannot, and will not, believe in a selfish deity.
Why did I know that you would likely be a 3, (4, 5, 6 ?) time apostate?

Your track record preceeds you! :p :)

Time to "become" a Deist and get it over with. :cool:

As being an outsider of the religion, I have many perspectives on it.

However, what I have noticed from my travels is: it is not the religion itself that is corrupt (even though I do hold the stance that all religion is absurd, as is the belief in God/s), it is the people. There are so many different kinds of people in the world, so many personalities, so many perspectives. Like, say, Christianity, Islam is interpreted in many ways, by different races. The culture and the God all depend on the personality of people. This is why all Muslims are discriminated against: most people are too ignorant to acknowledge that fact. For example, Malays are, in general, jolly people. It's nice in the tropics, what's not to be happy about? The country is Islamic. Yet the people are very accepting and kind. The Arabs, (I say this in general. I do have many good Arab friends.) are a sturdier kind of people. Their harsh enviroment has also affected their interpretation of Islam. They are quite devout to it, to a point at which all else but Islam is deemed blasphemy. However, this is quite like (again, using Christianity to compare), the difference between Lutheranism and Catholisism, in respect to the Islam examples.

To concluse and draw this all together: Muslims are the people who interpret the religion Islam, and make it their own. People are very dynamic, ergo, the religion changes and morphs to conform to the person who wishes to accept it.

Time to "become" a Deist and get it over with. :cool:

NO! Not until they come up with a cool uniform.

Islam is the religion, and a
Muslim is a member of Islam
What he said.